Measuring Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminals With Imaging Spectroscopy

Abstract

The rapid growth of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports underscores the importance of CO₂ monitoring for LNG export terminals. We present a method for measuring LNG terminal CO₂ emissions using remote sensing imaging spectroscopy. The method is first validated using 47 power plant emission events with in situ measured data, then applied to 22 emission events in Sabine Pass and Cameron. The power plant data set shows a robust correlation between our estimates and in situ data, with R² 0.9146 and the average error −2%. At Sabine Pass, eight point sources are identified with emission rates from 219.69 ± 54.95 to 1,083.22 ± 308.06 t/hr. At Cameron, three point sources are identified with emission rates from 91.64 ± 25.81 to 265.61 ± 67.80 t/hr. The liquefaction carbon intensity estimates also align with past study ranges. This illustrates that remote sensing can validate environmental reporting and CO₂ inventories for industrial facilities.